


Teardrop

by Soozen



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ember Island (Avatar), F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Pining, Protective Azula (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25907701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soozen/pseuds/Soozen
Summary: With a single finger placed under Ty Lee’s chin, Azula tilted her head up further, into the firelight of the lamps shining through the windows behind them. The skin around her left eye was swollen, getting darker as a bruise forms there. Her lower lip was split on one side, blood staining the side of her mouth. Wordlessly, Azula wiped the blood away with her thumb, never taking her hand from her chin. Ty Lee stared at her, eyes wide, cheeks wet with tears.It is only then that Azula noticed bruises on her arms as well, faint scratches marking them, and anger coursed through her at the sight of it all.“Who did this to you?”--------Or, when Azula finds Ty Lee sulking alone on the deck of the beach house, it is not for the reason she suspects.
Relationships: Azula & Ty Lee (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 418





	Teardrop

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by a prompt by whumpster-dumpster on tumblr. 
> 
> This takes place during The Beach, and slightly deviates from canon. 
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/soozenwrites) for nonsense about writing and fandom goodness.

Azula was less than pleased with how the evening had gone.

This was supposed to be a fun evening, attending a party as no one, seeing how the commoners mingled and socialized, and it had been _anything_ but that. The entire night, Zuko and Mai sulked, and Ty Lee spoke with seemingly _every_ last boy that walked through the door. And then there was that absolutely awful encounter with Chan, in which Azula thought she’d try her hand in flirting and being a ‘normal’ teen, whatever that was.

The kiss had done absolutely nothing for her, and she attempted to recover by proclaiming them to become the strongest couple in the world, which he foolishly had not seen the brilliance of. Short minded, all of them.

Azula did not make idiotic decisions often, but this party was by and far the stupidest one.

Currently, she was alone, walking up the path to Lo and Li’s house- and this was truly the absolute _worst_ part of the entire evening. Zuko and Mai had opted to take a walk along the shore or whatever it was that stupid couples did. Ty lee, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found.

There hadn’t been the opportunity to find her, for at the party a fight had broken out (one that Azula was quite happy she was in a different room from, because how much more common could one get, to start a brawl at a _party_ ). Somehow, Zuko had gotten involved, or maybe blamed for it, or blamed for the damage to some vase, and they had been kicked out. It wasn’t until the door had been shut behind them that Azula realized that Ty Lee was not thrown out with them.

She had probably been pulled into a secluded corner with one of her many adoring beaus. Azula rolled her eyes at the thought.

To her surprise, as she climbed the stair that connected to the deck of the tiny beach house, Ty Lee was already home. She was seated on a low bench, her back to the sea, and she was hunched over, elbows on her knees, head bowed.

“I thought you were still at the party,” Azula commented as she approached her.

Ty Lee shook her head without looking up at her. “No. I- I left.”

“On your own?” Leaning back against the rail, Azula scoffed. “I imagined you’d be getting cozy with one of the boys at the party.”

If Azula hadn’t glanced down at her friend, she would have missed Ty Lee shaking her head again. This was strange. Of course, Ty Lee herself was strange; always so happy and positive, willing to share ideas about the most inane of topics. Never, in all her years of knowing her, had Azula ever seen her so quiet and withdrawn.

For some time, she stood silently by Ty Lee, waiting for her to say _something_ , because Ty Lee seemed to hate long periods of silence. A lost cause, apparently, and Azula nearly gave up, almost announced that she was going to retire because Ty Lee was being utterly dull, when she heard the unmistakable sound of a sniffle come from the girl beside her.

“…Are you crying?” She did not mean to sound so accusatory.

“No,” Ty Lee responded, and it was almost laughable how badly Ty Lee lied, if it weren’t for how tight her voice was from the tears she claimed not to have.

Dots connected in Azula’s mind- they were at a party, and Ty Lee had been so flirty, and now she was here, alone. “Oh, I see. You were rejected. Well, if it is any consolation, that makes two of us.”

Again, Ty Lee responded only with a shake of her head.

“What is it then?”

When it became clear that Ty Lee was not about to respond, with a roll of her eyes (because really, she is a princess and had a terrible night, and Ty Lee should be doting on _her_ ), Azula dropped to a crouch in front of her. Normally, such close quarters would cause Ty Lee to immediately bring her attention to Azula, but she stubbornly didn't move, her face still parallel with the wooden floorboards of the deck.

“Ty Lee. Look at me.”

It was not a request but a command. When Ty Lee liftef her head, relief started to pool through Azula, that she finally was remembering her place, but that quickly disappeared when she saw the marks on her cheekbones.

With a single finger placed under Ty Lee’s chin, Azula tilted her head up further, into the firelight of the lamps shining through the windows behind them. The skin around her left eye was swollen, getting darker as a bruise forms there. Her lower lip was split on one side, blood staining the side of her mouth. Wordlessly, Azula wiped the blood away with her thumb, never taking her hand from her chin. Ty Lee stared at her, eyes wide, cheeks wet with tears.

It was only then that Azula noticed bruises on her arms as well, faint scratches marking them, and anger courses through her at the sight of it all.

“Who did this to you?”

The amount of fury in her was frightening, even to Azula. It boiled up in her, as the thought of someone- anyone- bringing such harm to Ty Lee, dear sweet Ty Lee who only knew how to compliment and be so happy. A name. She needed a name, the name of whoever it was that dared make Ty Lee bleed, that left such marks on her. Whichever cruel and short-sighted boy at the party assaulted her would reap so much pain, never in their life would they ever have foreseen the severity of this crime-

“They were making fun of you.” Ty Lee’s voice was quiet and apologetic- as if merely speaking of someone else mocking her was something to be sorry for.

“What?” Azula let go of Ty Lee’s chin, letting her hands rest upon her own knee.

Ty Lee gulped, maybe to gather courage, or to calm her tears. “Chan and Ruon-Jian, and a couple of girls. Chan, he was talking about you. He said mean things about- about kissing you, and everyone was laughing.” She wiped her eyes with the heel of her palm. “I told them to stop. I told them that they were wrong and- and how amazing you are, and they laughed at me. One of the girls told me I was stupid, and that you were- were stupid too and when I told her she was wrong, she shoved me, so I shoved her back and I think I shoved her harder than I meant to because she went flying and even as I said sorry, they all jumped at me-“

“ _You_ were the fight at Chan’s party?” The shocking part wasn’t that Ty Lee had fought at all. Obviously Ty Lee could fight; she was quite possibly the most talented non-bender in the world. Clearly the only reason she had any marks upon her was that she was taken by surprise.

The part that caught Azula off-guard was that Ty Lee had started it.

Ty Lee’s eyes had somehow, impossibly, become larger as she looked earnestly at her. “I couldn’t let them make fun of you! They were being so cruel-”

Azula silenced her with a finger pressed to her lips. “I know,” she said. “You showed your loyalty so well, Ty Lee.” Pulling her finger from Ty Lee’s lips, she gently stroked her bangs, smoothing them. Her hair was in disarray, now that she noticed it, stray hairs pulled from her long braid.

“Are you in pain?” she questioned, and Ty Lee shook her head.

“Not really. I mean, my eye hurts a little, but it isn’t so bad.”

Good. If there had been any lingering pain, anything that made Ty Lee wince or limp, or favor one hand over another, Azula would burn that house to the ground.

“In that case, let’s see if there is any ice in the icebox for your eye,” Azula said, standing up. She offered a hand to Ty Lee, who accepted it with gratitude in her eyes. “And then a good soak in a hot bath.”

There it was, a smile on Ty Lee’s lips, and Azula opted not to think about how soothing it was to see her smile again. As she led her into the house, her mind was moving forward. Once Ty Lee was calm and settled, relaxing in the bath, Azula would find her brother, and they would return to the party to properly thank the hosts for their terrible hospitality.

They would never make the mistake of laying a finger on Ty Lee again.


End file.
